Background
Kakutani, a Japanese American, was born on January 9, 1955, in New Haven, Connecticut.
角谷 美智子
Kakutani, a Japanese American, was born on January 9, 1955, in New Haven, Connecticut.
She received her Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Yale University in 1976, where she studied under author and Yale writing professor John Hersey, among others
She is the only child of Yale mathematician Shizuo Kakutani. She initially worked as a reporter for the Washington Post, and then from 1977 to 1979 for Time magazine, where Hersey had worked. In 1979, she joined The New York Times as a reporter.
Kakutani has been a literary critic for The New York Times since 1983.
Her periodically harsh reviews of some prominent authors have garnered both attention and, on occasion, criticism. She has been known to write reviews in the voice of movie or book characters, including Brian Griffin, Austin Powers, Holden Caulfield, Elle Woods of Legally Blonde, and Truman Capote"s character Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany"son
On July 19, 2007, The New York Times published a pre-release story written by Kakutani about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. An account of the ensuing controversy, including the critical comments of some Harry Potter fans, can be found on the Times Public Editor"s blog.
A fictionalized account of Kakutani"s life entitled "Michiko Kakutani and the Sadness of the World!".